Film: Night Watch
Release date: 24th April 2006
Certificate: 15
Running time: 114 mins
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: Konstantin Khabensky, Vladimir Menshov, Valeri Zolotukhin, Mariya Poroshina, Galina Tyunina
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Thriller
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Format: DVD
Country: Russia
'Russian' and 'blockbuster' are two words you rarely see next to each other. Night Watch had a modest budget but promises an abundance of spell-binding special effects, explosions and an emphasis on action. Costing around £4 million to make, it went on to triple this in its homeland alone, and become Russia’s first and most loved blockbuster fantasy movie. With an ambitious trilogy lined up, just what has captured our comrade’s imaginations so much?
The forces of light and dark go to war in medieval Russia. The battle rages as two armies of warriors, known as ‘others’, fight for superiority. Gesar, Lord of the Light, realises that the battle is too evenly fought and will result in both sides’ annihilation. Along with Zabulon, Lord of the Dark, a shaky truce is formed between the two mega powers to forever hold a balance. This truce is to be policed by guardians of each side: Night Watch are ‘others’ on the side of light and Day Watch on the side of dark. A prophecy tells that one day a ‘great one’ will come and bring the battle to a head once more.
Moscow in 1992, Anton Gorodetsky seeks to win his girlfriend back through the practice of dark forces. He visits Daria who offers to kill the girlfriend’s unborn child, the son of another man, to send her back to him. Daria performs a ritual to miscarry the child, as the room shakes and the spell is nearly in effect, Night Watch arrive to arrest Daria. Anton realises that he too is an ‘other’, as he is able to witnesses the supernatural scene in front of him.
Twelve years pass, and Anton is now working with the forces of light on Night Watch. When a vampire and his girlfriend conspire to entrance and feed on a young boy, Anton is sent to his rescue - and to arrest the vampires who are directly disobeying the truce. On this job, he crosses paths with a cursed woman who could cause major problems to the balance; the truce is becoming more and more vulnerable. Anton rescues the young boy, Yegar, unaware of the boy’s significance to the prophecy - and to his own past...
Despite the film’s blockbuster status, it has a distinctly Russian flavour. This is felt especially with the film’s lead, Konstantin Khabenskiy. His slackeresque appearance, vodka swigging and lack of fighting prowess make him hard to imagine in any other big movie scenario. The themes of the occult and epic nature of the story’s battle call out for warriors, but here we are treated to a very unlikely bevy of oddball Russians. The Night Watch team could be easily mistaken for proprietors of a lesser cause with their boiler suits, bushy beards and garbage style truck. When we see said truck flying down a Moscow city street kicking flames out the exhausts, it is made all the cooler by the teams rag tag image.
Bekmambetov squeezes every last drop out of a budget that would otherwise not accommodate the picture’s scale. The special effects suck you in with dizzying effect, as they come thick and fast - a particularly memorable image is that of the Night Watch’s truck flying through the air with a perfect forward flip, only to land on back on all four wheels. There are also some very appealing stylistics, too, with the animation of the cursed virgin, and some very sleek animal imagery in the shape of an owl and tiger. All these things and more cause an amazing spectacle but simultaneously are the cause of the film’s biggest problem.
Unfortunately, an emphasis on visceral stimulation gets in the way of clear storytelling. Based loosely on a novel by Sergei Lukyanenko the film is overly busy, and this jeopardises any coherence in the narrative. There is simply too much going on, and watching the film is not just a commitment but very frustrating. Somewhere in the midst of prophecies, vampires, morphing and curses you realise the film has lost its way. The complexities in the story such as ‘the gloom’ and ‘the twilight’ present rules similar to the Matrix but are in serious need of elaboration.
Considering the hype, this is a disappointment. This film does have some big ideas but fails to create a piece of fantasy that is easily subscribed to. Although it is pretty on the eye, with enough action in one film to pack out an entire trilogy, it won’t stay long in your memory. It does however set up a lot of possibilities for the sequel; hopefully this will do the opposite to The Matrix and get better as it goes on. LW
No comments:
Post a Comment